What's for Dinner?: Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Bananas and Whipped Cream

Ashley emailed me asking what kind of pancakes I fix for my kids. Unfortunately for their health, they got hooked on old-fashioned, enriched white flour, Bisquick pancakes before I started being sneaky and "fortifying" their meals. But I do have a recipe that I prefer over the Bisquick. I use a whole wheat flour and cornmeal mixture. I love the texture the cornmeal adds (the vary texture my kids despise).

If you try these pancakes and like them you can mix a big batch of the dry ingredients and store in a gallon Ziplock bag in the refrigerator (dried Buttermilk must be refrigerated after opening - I learned this the hard way). In the mornings you can add the wet ingredients to the premixed dry ingredients and have a pretty quick breakfast.

Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Bananas and Whipped Cream

adapted from Gourmet magazine, May 2006

dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

6 tablespoons dried powdered buttermilk (cultured buttermilk blend)

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

wet ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

nonstick spray

topping:

chopped pecans

banana slices

whipped cream

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, then add water, eggs, and oil and whisk until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes (batter will thicken). If batter is too thick to pour easily, thin with additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

2. Heat skillet to med- high heat. Spray skillet with nonstick spray. Pour batter onto hot skillet to form 3- to 3 1/2-inch rounds. Sprinkle tops with chopped pecans. Cook until bubbles appear on surface. Flip pancakes and cook until undersides are golden.

Serve with warm syrup, banana slices and whipped cream.

This is dried buttermilk. Find it in the baking section of the grocery store. It is good for marinating baked chicken, too. Although the name suggests it is bad for you, it actually has less fat than milk. So butter this!

The whole-wheat flour makes these pancakes really pretty and golden.

I got this HUGE measuring bowl for Christmas. It has a spout and a lid. I can store unused batter in the fridge. I love it!

Turn pancakes when bubbles form on top and begin to pop. You want the bottoms to be brown and the edges to be set. You may have to turn your heat down if the outsides are browning before the insides are cooked through.